FIFA 12: Is It An Evolution Or A Revolution?

CVG released this rather interesting article today on whether FIFA 12 were keeping there promise on a revolution rather than evolution in this years iteration. Check it out.


CVG:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/309982/previews/fifa-12-is-it-an-evolution-or-a-revolution/?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-Previews-RSS

"Revolution not evolution' promises FIFA 12's marketing blurb. Truth told, it's a misleading claim in the Bolshevik sense, but on the evidence of our extensive hands-on, it does succeed on a more literal level - since FIFA 12's key feature is the ability to turn rapidly in a tight circle.

It sounds daft, but Precision Dribbling - the ability for skilled players to turn sharper and quicker, using only subtle left stick prompts - is arguably the biggest leap in the series' recent history. Using technical players like Nasri or Arshavin, it's now possible to 'sell' a defender using sharp-angled turns or 180 direction shifts, using their body weight or momentum against them.

Best of all, it's completely intuitive, unlike the slightly forced 'skill dribble' of old, where you held both shoulder buttons for closer control. Strong, gifted players like Berbatov can 'hold up' a ball in packed midfields using subtle stick shifts, keeping defender pressure at bay with delicate ball touches.
The result is that it's much easier to play through the middle, using technique players such as Fabregas to buy space in crowded midfields. Playmakers like Xavi will be able to spot longer ranged passes using an extended cone of vision. In theory, this 'Pro Player Intelligence' allows the PS3- controlled team to attack you more realistically, hitting long balls to big men like Crouch and dribbling more with skilful players like Messi - but this'll need more time for us to test.

The dribbling forms part of an interlinked 'trinity' of changes, including Tactical Defending. You no longer hold X to cheesily pressure-tackle a player, but to 'contain' them: using the left stick to move closer or further away before tapping square (on alternate controls) at the right moment for a tackle. Mistime it, and you'll be off balance, allowing the attacker to burst past.

Mistimed tackles are amplified by the Player Impact Engine, with collision animations and injuries calculated in real-time. In Manager Mode, your handling of an injury will become a key part of the season's 'story' - rush a player back and he risks a relapse.

Overall, it's a subtle but powerful combination - dribbling finally feels intuitive and player-specific, as it did in the vintage, PS2-era PES, and the tackling will quell maddening online 'pressure abusers.' Revolution is perhaps too bold a claim, but it does ask stern questions of Konami's more evolutionary football rival"

Konami Confident Of PES 2012 Success

Will PES 2012 beat FIFA 12 this year? No, Probably not. With Fifa 11 shipping more than 820,000 in week one sales, To think that PES will out sell the giant this year is naive to say the least. Although are we looking at it all wrong? I mean do Konami want all of that fanbase? or just the hardcore. Well John Murphy UK PES Team Leader tells CVG what he thinks about this whole FIFA Vs PES debate and what chances PES has this year of attracting fans back to the former kings of virtual football.

Jon Murphy telling CVG: 

"I really do believe that the offering we've got this year will pull some fans back from the competition. Perhaps we'll see another year when people buy both games, but after six months, we want to make sure they trade-in only one of them - and it's not ours.

"[FIFA] has the atmosphere, the crowds and certain licences we don't - and everybody knows they've got better commentary than us. I can't see that changing. And some of the stuff they're doing with the collisions looks great, depending how it works as you actually play.

"But if you want pure gameplay, I think we'll smash them this year. We've got so many things going for us, but just the lightness of touch and the way the players move independently is fantastic. You notice it instantly."

Murphy added: "We don't want everyone, it's not about that - we want the front runners, the opinion formers, the players who tell their friends 'you've got to check out PES this year'. We want to bring them back, and I think we can."

No European Playstation Vita In 2011

Want a Playstation Vita? Can't wait till Christmas morning so you can rush downstairs, rip that wrapping paper open and get your fiddly little fingers on one? Well I have bad news for you. If CVG and VG247 are to be believed then Sony will not be releasing the PS Vita in Europe until 2012, Sure to disappoint millions who cannot wait to see if this new handheld is the real deal. It seems that us Europeans will have to look over in envy at those North Americans who will get a release before the end of the year along with the Japanese. Its a long time to wait.. Maybe a 3DS for Christmas instead.


The PS Vita is priced at £239/289 in the UK, €249/€299 for the Euro users and £249/£299 for those lucky Americans.

Lulz Security Hackers Retirement Parting Gift

It kind of reminds me of a girlfriend who is leaving you, Just as she is walking out of the door, She tells you she's fucked your dad. She could have left it there and gone from your life forever but she thought why the hell not. I'm breaking his heart so why not break it that little bit more? Well Hacking Group Lulz Security have done the equivalent with there latest and final hack. I could explain it but I would not do it justice. So I will let CVG explain.

Notorious hacking group LulzSec has announced its 'retirement' from illegal activity, as it releases the details of half a million subscribers of EA online title Battlefield Heroes.


The group has hit headlines in the past two months for breaching the security of companies including Fox.com, Sony, Bethesda and the owners of EVE Online, releasing millions of personal user details.

As its final act, the group yesterday released a new file with half a Gigabyte of user information. It contained data from telecommunication company AT&T, as well as the IP addresses of corporations including Sony, Viacom, Disney, EMI and NBC Universal.

It also reportedly spilled details of 200,000 email addresses, usernames, and encrypted passwords from hackforums.net; 12,000 names, usernames, and passwords of the NATO online bookshop; 550,000 usernames and encrypted passwords from EA's Battlefield Heroes; 50,000 usernames, email addresses, and encrypted passwords of various video game forum users; and 29 users of Priority Investigations, an Irish private investigation company.

A statement released today read:

Friends around the globe,

We are Lulz Security, and this is our final release, as today marks something meaningful to us. 50 days ago, we set sail with our humble ship on an uneasy and brutal ocean: the Internet. The hate machine, the love machine, the machine powered by many machines. We are all part of it, helping it grow, and helping it grow on us.

For the past 50 days we've been disrupting and exposing corporations, governments, often the general population itself, and quite possibly everything in between, just because we could. All to selflessly entertain others - vanity, fame, recognition, all of these things are shadowed by our desire for that which we all love. The raw, uninterrupted, chaotic thrill of entertainment and anarchy. It's what we all crave, even the seemingly lifeless politicians and emotionless, middle-aged self-titled failures. You are not failures. You have not blown away. You can get what you want and you are worth having it, believe in yourself.

While we are responsible for everything that The Lulz Boat is, we are not tied to this identity permanently. Behind this jolly visage of rainbows and top hats, we are people. People with a preference for music, a preference for food; we have varying taste in clothes and television, we are just like you. Even Hitler and Osama Bin Laden had these unique variations and style, and isn't that interesting to know? The mediocre painter turned supervillain liked cats more than we did.

Again, behind the mask, behind the insanity and mayhem, we truly believe in the AntiSec movement. We believe in it so strongly that we brought it back, much to the dismay of those looking for more anarchic lulz. We hope, wish, even beg, that the movement manifests itself into a revolution that can continue on without us. The support we've gathered for it in such a short space of time is truly overwhelming, and not to mention humbling. Please don't stop. Together, united, we can stomp down our common oppressors and imbue ourselves with the power and freedom we deserve.

So with those last thoughts, it's time to say bon voyage. Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind - we hope - inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love. If anything, we hope we had a microscopic impact on someone, somewhere. Anywhere.

Thank you for sailing with us. The breeze is fresh and the sun is setting, so now we head for the horizon.

Let it flow...

Lulz Security - our crew of six wishes you a happy 2011, and a shout-out to all of our battlefleet members and supporters across the globe.


Errrr you'll be missed?